A blast from the crafting-focused previous.
The Atelier collection of video games is having a surge of recognition, with the current launch of the third sport within the Ryza/Secret subseries of video games and the discharge of the anime adaptation of the primary sport in that collection, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout. With that momentum, developer Gust is returning to the collection’ roots with a remake of the primary sport within the Atelier collection, Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg. As a fan of the Atelier collection, I used to be excited to present this sport a shot, as that is the primary time this entry is releasing abroad. And whereas I personally actually loved my time with Atelier Marie, this may not be the sport followers expect if they’ve solely performed the newer entries.
In Atelier Marie, you play the titular Marie (shortened from Marlone) who’s instructed, resulting from her poor efficiency on the alchemy academy, that she has 5 years to develop into a talented alchemist in a small workshop she’s been offered. This begins the core gameplay loop, the place you spend the subsequent 5 years exploring the world, gathering supplies for alchemy, going again to the atelier to craft objects–which can be utilized to finish quests or utilized in fight to permit for gathering in additional harmful areas–rinse and repeat. The sport’s fight is pretty fundamental, consisting of a easy turn-based system, and the alchemy system is equally approachable. The place the sport’s issue lies is in useful resource administration. Very similar to different early Atelier video games, such because the Arland subseries, Atelier Marie places you on a time restrict. Whereas 5 years feels like a very long time, virtually each motion takes an inordinate quantity of in-game time; touring, gathering supplies, and alchemy all take time. So all through this sport you might be balancing your time, cash, and supplies, making selections to attempt to optimize this course of. Do you exit and collect all of your supplies, or do you rent a useful elf who will achieve this for a month-to-month payment? Do you rent a robust mercenary who may also help you deal with battles with ease (for a better payment) or attempt to make fight work along with your finest good friend, who’s weak however goes out preventing without cost?
Whereas this time administration system has lengthy been a topic of debate amongst Atelier followers (the dialogue of which sport is finest to begin with usually revolves round it), I believe it lends a singular high quality to those early video games that I personally get pleasure from. Nevertheless, it may not be to each participant’s liking. The opposite facet that this lends itself to is replayability, as a result of it’s not possible to see and do all the things in a single playthrough. In my first playthrough, it says I accomplished 64% of the sport’s occasions that may be seen in sport. So whereas a single playthrough took me about 10 hours, I may simply do a brand new sport plus run to see extra. I plan to take action (although maybe after a break), as a result of the setting and characters had been fulfilling sufficient that I’d prefer to see the tip of every particular person storyline. Whereas I believe the Atelier collection’ character writing and storytelling has improved through the years, the characters in Marie aren’t as likable to me because the characters within the Arland subseries, and the world constructing/storytelling isn’t as robust as within the Nightfall subseries. Nonetheless, Atelier Marie Remake oozes with allure and makes you’re keen on these characters and this tiny city you’re based mostly in.
The sport additionally features a record of all of the cutscenes and occasions and among the particulars to set off them, which is able to make accessing them simpler. I’d personally suggest doing a playthrough with out conserving that in thoughts, interacting with characters you wish to work together with, after which utilizing that as a information to get the occasions you wished to see most. It’s straightforward to overlook sure occasions and days on the calendar (I didn’t expertise an annual occasion till yr 5, and there are characters I by no means met), however the sport’s occasion log lets me know what occasions I can intention for or plan to hit subsequent time.
Visually, Atelier Marie is hit and miss. The chibi artwork model is more likely to be divisive, although it is sensible coming from a PS1-era JRPG. That stated, the 2D artwork for the cutscenes is actually gorgeous and makes me want there have been extra excuses to see that artwork model. The facet that bothers me probably the most with the visuals is a fog/blur impact when transferring across the city and exploring. It’s distracting and doesn’t add something visually; a part of me wonders if that is making an attempt for a stylized impact–alongside the strains of the Hyperlink’s Awakening remake–however not doing a superb job with it. It makes me want there was extra of a stylized method to the 3D chibi visuals.
The one gameplay facet that didn’t work had been the minigames. All through the course of the expertise, sport there are a number of situations the place the usual stream of gameplay can be interrupted; for instance, after you make cheese a mouse will steal it. Then you’re going to get right into a associated minigame (on this explicit case, chasing the mouse in a maze whereas having the ability to push objects in its path to lure it), with good outcomes leaving you with extra of the merchandise. Passing the sport leaves you with the conventional quantities of the merchandise, and failure leads you to lose the merchandise. These minigames are all boring at finest and unfun at worst. They occur very sometimes, so this shouldn’t be a deal breaker, nevertheless it appears fairly clear why these minigames (which had been within the authentic PS1 launch) didn’t develop into a mainstay of the collection.
Atelier Marie isn’t the Atelier collection at its peak, however I wouldn’t anticipate it to be: it’s the first sport within the collection, in spite of everything. As such, I doubtless wouldn’t suggest this sport to a newcomer to the collection. Every subseries (i.e. Arland, Nightfall, Mysterious, Ryza/Secret) is self-contained, so it’s not essential to play Marie earlier than these different video games. Nevertheless, for followers of the collection it’s enjoyable to see the place it began and the way a lot Gust bought proper from the beginning, contemplating that is nonetheless a really enjoyable, breezy JRPG to play. It makes me hope that different video games within the collection will be dropped at trendy platforms and that the Atelier collection can proceed to thrive!